For many, waking up early the Friday morning after Thanksgiving and shopping for holiday deals is a tradition. I am personally not one who is able to do this, as I am usually still in a hardcore turkey coma at 3:00AM and exhausted from hauling Christmas decorations out (yes, one of those people). There was literally one year where I crawled out of bed and allowed myself to be trampled by women in pajamas and that was when I realized that Black Friday just wasn't for me.

A couple of years ago, when I started my wedding planning company I heard fellow entrepreneurs talking about Small Business Saturday and I was intrigued. Folks, this is a big one. If you're not familiar, Small Business Saturday is the Saturday after Thanksgiving (the day after Black Friday) and is all about putting your holiday spending dollars towards local businesses in your own community instead of large corporations. You see, supporting local businesses doesn't only create jobs and keep your tax dollars local, but it can help to foster community.

Depending your age you might be able to think back to a time when if you needed groceries you went to the local market where the butcher always saved your favorite cut of meat. If you needed paint, you went to the hardware store in town. More often than not, you knew the families who owned these establishments and it made you feel even better about shopping with them because of the friendship you developed and knowing where your own hard earned dollars were going. We've strayed from this world, but those opportunities still exist.

Cue Small Business Saturday. It should come as no surprise that the holiday season is one of the biggest shopping periods of the year and small businesses everywhere are gearing up. I encourage you to shop at one or two locally owned stores in your area this Small Business Saturday, November 25. Not only are you helping the business and local community, but it's likely that you'll find more unique products.

If you've been a Philadelphia Housewives guest or follower, you know that we try to embrace this concept year-round by bringing in local businesses to our events that are specifically from the area's we're hosting in. We'll continue to do this, as we want to keep introducing you to businesses and organizations in your area. This holiday season, we'll also be launching a Shop Local Holiday Guide on November 15 to give you a preview of some of the businesses in our area and to help you make your plans for Small Business Saturday. We hope that you'll check it out, share it with friends, and make a point to #ShopLocal this year.

Are you a local business owner and interested in learning more about our guide? Please email allie@housewivesinthecity.com for more information.

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Welcome! ​I'm Allie

A native-Philadelphian, I am captivated by all things cultural, artistic and Rocky-themed. I am a wedding planner full-time, and also run our blog + coordinate fun social events for all of us to connect. Champagne and the Bachelor franchise are my weaknesses.